MATERIALS

Ceramic

The word ceramic comes from the Greek word “keramos” that implies to burnt material. Hence you can make out the difference between ceramic and others. It is an extremely hard mineral substance which is much more strong; in fact even stronger than steel. This is so because of the high temperature treatment that is given to it. For over 1000 years, mankind has been acquainted to Ceramic and has made attempts to develop it in a better way. For this very reason, Ceramic is now also used in the medicine, aviation as well as automobile industry.

Ceramic has a lot of advantages, and this is the reason why Stella Maris uses the properties of ceramic and to create our very own exclusive range of luxurious watches and amazingly extraordinary designs. Ceramic is the ideal Material for people with allergies, moreover it is scratch resistant and nearly non-destroyable by chemicals, temperatures and friction. The elegant shiny surface and the perfect surface make this material an exclusive choice for excellent watches.

Sapphire

The next material that we wish to discuss here is a pretty special one, Sapphire Glass. Yes, this ma-terial is special in its own way as it is known for the most fascinating look that it adds to all the acces-sories. It is very hard and shows magnificent reflections. The other properties of this material include its scratch resistance, abrasion free nature and the fact that it can only be treated with the hardest substance on earth, which is the Diamond.

Diamond Powder in combination with special types of oil is used to polish the sapphire glass that accounts for its unique shine. This special mixture or combination is known to make sapphire five times stronger than any ordinary glass. One of the most fascinating facts is that sapphire is also al-most invisible to the naked human eye; that is its clarity. The reason why it is so expensive is because of the amount of time taken to prepare it and that too with so much precision.

Mother of Pearl

Have you ever wondered what exists inside the inner surface of a seashell? Sure you do! It is a mother of pearl. A mother of pearl is an absolutely enchanting gem that comprises of an iridescent material to provide the range of a rainbow and thus makes your watch a unique accessory. It is a unique natural product that can’t exist in its unique way twice. The exclusivity of mother of pearl is the reason why we add it to our accessories so that we provide you with the most special jewelry pieces and watches every time. It adds an element of uniqueness to every ornament that you adorn.

Quartz movement

Quartz movement first started off with the quartz clock. In the early 20th century, the first quartz clock was designed; however, the first one was built near around the 1950s. Ten years later, the first quartz movements for watches were made by a Swiss watch company. That was the inception of the success of the concept of quartz movement.

Now, you must be wondering, what is quartz movement? Every quartz watch contains a paper thin piece of synthetic quartz, which is called the oscillator. This oscillator vibrates very quickly and allows the watch to work at the right pace. This is the reason for its accuracy and steadiness and thus, the watch shows the exact time.

Chronograph

The combination of a stopwatch and a normal watch is what you mean when you refer to a watch being a chronograph. This means that you can count a particular time period, start the watch, stop it when you want and then again reset it. The very complicated mechanism needs a huge background of knowledge and expertise in engineering to fully understand it.

The concept of chronograph came to being back in 1821. It was Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec for King Louis XVIII who invented it. The royal roots of the chronograph are almost forgotten today yet this special type of watch is a very popular accessory not only for athletes but also to fashion-conscious people who appreciate the modern design of the dial.

DIAMONDS

A diamond is a girl’s best friend; because it last forever, shines brilliantly and makes her look more beautiful. It is indeed the most precious gem on earth and it created through a complicated process over an unimaginable period of millions of years. Over the years it has become a great fashion sym-bol and it symbolizes luxury and wealth along with immortal love and everlasting relationships. The fact that it lasts forever, makes it more of an emotionally important symbol for all those in love. Every diamond has its own unique characteristics and possesses special individual properties.

Stella Maris is one platform that offers only the most pure and high quality diamonds which are checked by hand for purity and clarity. All the most brilliant pieces are included into the collection as they are the only ones that fit perfectly and give them all the accessories an incomparable splendor.

Every Stella Maris accessory has its own special value.

The 4 C's:

CARAT

CUT

CLARITY

COLOUR

Carat

Carat is the term derived from the Ancient Greek and Arabic names for the carob seed– Qirrat in Arabic and Keration in Greek. Now-a-days, carat is used to scientifically define the weight of any gemstone, including diamonds. Diamonds are measured, by their weight and not on the basis of their size. That is why you must not get confused when carat is mentioned as it defines the weight and not the size of the diamond.

A metric “carat” is defined as one fifth of a gram, 200 milligrams or 1/5 of a gram. Each carat can be sub divided into 100 points, where one point is equal to 0.01 carat. The heavier the diamond is, the greater the carat weights. Often, jewelers describe carats in ¼ increments.

The size of the diamonds can vary by a great amount, it could be a fraction of a carat or it could also be as large as several carats. Given the rarity of large stones on earth, the price rises rapidly with size; therefore, a single 2-carat diamond will price much more than two 1-carat diamonds. This is the reason why large diamonds are more expensive and also because they possess better color, better texture and are more clear, hence pretty exclusive.

The slider below compares the relative sizes of stones and describes how much a round brilliant diamond of a certain size is likely to weigh. This chart is for educational purposes only and shows a guideline for diameter and carat weights. It is not demonstrative of other cuts or shapes. It is also not valid to colored gemstones which have a unlike density from diamonds.

One of the most important attributes of a diamond Sis its dimensions as it describes its form. In addition to the carat weight, you must always consider the distance across the top of the gem as well. At times, people tend to misunderstand that half a carat is half the size of one carat. Rather, half a carat is equal to half the weight of one carat diamond; however, the millimeter difference on a round stone is only 1.35mm.

The average measurement for a 0.50ct stone is 5.00mm, while the average 1.00ct stone measures approximately 6.35mm. Although, carat weight might specify a diamond’s size, the shape and cut of a stone also plays a role on appearance of how large or small the stone seems. For instance, a shal-low diamond can sometimes appear larger compared to a deep one purely because of the way it is shaped. Similarly, a diamond´s cut can have effect. Such as elongated shapes aims to maximize carat weight, letting them look larger than round stones of the same weight as illustrated in the chart below.

Cut

The definition of cut does not stand for “shape” as this term defines how well a diamond has been made from its rough form, to look glossy and brilliant rather than what figure it has been fashioned into. In other words, the type of cut illustrates the process applied by the diamond’s last polished finish. Thus, cut plays a big role in determining the price of a stone. For instance, the most known cut for a diamond is the round brilliant cut; however, there are also Swiss cuts, or round old European cuts, and round 144-facet cuts.

Furthermore, the diamond’s cut is ranked by a certification body; the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) grades on the basis of a five point scale rating from “excellent”, “very good”, “good§, “fair”, to “poor”. Other laboratories as the AGS may use other scales and definitions: “Excellent” or “ideal” for the best diamonds as these grades are approved to diamonds with the top level of sparkle intensity and rich light reflection, while Fair and Poor grades indicates less sparkle and poorer brightness. Below slider illustrates GIA cut grades for a diamond cut

Clarity

The term clarity is an illustration of a diamond's purity. Clarity is defined by a diamond's, naturally happening, and internal characteristics from rough form. Each diamond has so called “birthmarks”; small imperfections inside, or on surface. These characteristics are sometimes not visible to the naked eye and they are what make each diamond unique. The characteristics, or inclusions, may look like crystals, feathers, clouds or dark spots and the quantity, size, and location of these inclusions does have an effect on a diamond's value. Diamonds with fewer and smaller inclusions generally are more brilliant, assuming that the color and cut are the same.

Diamonds used in jewelry are clean to the naked eye, however, in a certified diamond, the cracks are defined on the certificate and act as fingerprint for categorizing a particular stone.

The continuing is the GIA clarity scale, in correspondence to define clarity grades which is very gen-erally used in world wide.

A large percentage of jewelry is made with SI quality diamonds. These diamonds are good for di-amond studs or multi-stone diamond earrings, rings, bracelets or as accents in gemstone rings. I quality diamonds are acceptable as well for diamond jewelry or as accents but the sparkle is dropped by the number of inclusions and their location.

Color

Color is another significant grading aspect for buying or selling diamonds. Most diamonds have an indication of color and subtle color differences, which are graded based on their overall body color, on a scale developed by the GIA and AGS. At the GIA this scale runs from “D” to “Z”. Following charts below show how the difference between any colors can be very subtle.

In order to achieve the premier degree of accuracy, diamonds have to be color graded loose and with proper equipment. Colorless diamonds are rarest and most valuable of all. Color variations are a consequence of natural forces (i.e. trace elements, pressure, temperature etc.) during the formation of diamonds within the Earth. Therefore, a color grade scale is useful to categorize the shading differences from one diamond to another.

Color D

is the greatest color grade attributed to a diamond, classifying that the stone is entirely colorless (white), and very rare and at highest price.

Color E

is the variance among D and E classified stone and commonly only visible to an expert ge-mologist using master stones as a comparison, these stones are a bit cheaper compare to D color.

Color F

is the variance among E and F and commonly only visible to an expert gemologist using master stones as a comparison, so, F classifying stones are the least cost of among the other highest colors.

Color G

is nearly colorless and has a slight color difference when compared to diamonds of classifying D or E. G stones seem colorless when set and so that present high value for money.

Color H

is near to colorless stones that still seem white or colorless if they are in comparison to higher color classified stones. These are slightly tinted stones; as a consequence H color is very pre-ferable and good money for value.

Color I

is slightly tinted stones, too. When is set in jewelry, these grades of I stones can seem colorless and if you are looking to make less expense to your budget then it is good option to get it.

COLOR J

is very slightly tinted stones, when set in jewelry in yellow or white gold, it is tougher to realize the slight yellowish tint that J grade seems. Therefore, if you are tight in your budget, J grade is a good choice for purchase.

COLOR K

is very slightly tinted stones, when set in jewelry in yellow or white gold, it is tougher to realize the slight yellow tint that K grade seems. Therefore, if you are tight in your budget, K grade is a good choice for purchase as there is no difference to see with naked eye.

COLOR K-Z

is lower clarity stones may be made less preferable stones among other grades.